First Thoughts: Crazy Mile Marks From Nuguse & Young, Statement Performances From Mackay & Vissa

Another weekend of action is now in the books. I'll spare you the formal introduction and instead suggest that we jump right into the analysis...so let's do that.

It should come as a surprise to no one that Nuguse ran as fast as he did this past weekend. The Notre Dame superstar is one of the most accomplished milers and 1500 meter runners in NCAA history. His past performances suggested that he could run 3:54, even with such a heavy negative split.

However, what I don't think anyone was expecting was Nuguse running a 3:54 mile on January 22nd. In the past, Nuguse (and Notre Dame as a whole) have made concentrated efforts to have their best results come towards the end of the season.

Peaking for the postseason has always been a priority for the Fighting Irish and for coach Sean Carlson, leaving me a bit surprised that we got to see Nuguse essentially go all-out in the mile before the month of February even began.

That's not to say that peaking for the postseason isn't still their priority, but seeing Nuguse throw down an elite-level mark in his primary event in the first half of the season is a rarity.

At the same time, Nuguse is so talented that he's going to end up running an insanely fast time regardless of when he toes the line. After all, running a mile seemed like the obvious starting point for a guy who is about to face an elite 3k field at the Millrose Games next weekend.

As for Dylan Jacobs, his 3:57 mile PR is a wildly impressive performance which shows us middle distance speed that we didn't realize he had.

Coming into this weekend, the Notre Dame veteran had never run faster than 3:46 for 1500 meters and has predominately been known as a 5000 meter runner (and a cross country specialist). Seeing him drop down in distance (by a lot) and produce a 3:57 personal best completely changes how we view this Sound Bend star.

Will Jacobs pursue the mile at the indoor national meet? Maybe, but it feels more likely than not that he'll pursue some sort of double, either in the 5000 meters and the 3000 meters or the DMR and the 3000 meters.

In fact, his 3:57 mile speed paired with his 13:25 personal best for 5000 meters makes me far more optimistic about his chances of not only running a fast national qualifying time in the 3000 meters, but potentially emerging as an All-American threat at that distance as well.
 

Also, nice runs for Notre Dame middle distance standouts Samuel Voelz (4:04) and Tim Zepf (4:06). That's better mile strength than I thought they would have. Teammate Bashir Mosavel-Lo didn't have his best day after running 4:07 (his PR is 3:59), but given that he started his season out with a 1:48 win over Voelz, I'm hardly concerned about his latest result.

After running a flat-track converted 2:04 mark for 800 meters last weekend, it felt like the NCAA was put on "Mackay watch" for the rest of the indoor track season. Well, sure enough, it didn't take long for Mackay to validate her strong middle distance conversion with a comparatively stronger time in the mile.

This past weekend at Penn State, the Binghamton superstar dropped a monster time of 4:32 in the mile, beating the next-best finisher by five second and now standing atop of the NCAA leaderboard in both the 800 meters and the mile.

This is a huge statement performance for Mackay who is dramatically changing how we view her as a nationally competitive talent. She's no longer just a fringe national qualifier, but rather an established star who can contend for an All-American finish on the track come March.

Mackay's 4:32 mark will easily put her into the national meet, although it now leaves us to wonder what race(s) she will contest come March. The Binghamton ace has always been a long distance standout, specifically in cross country and in the 5000 meters, but it seems abundantly clear that her identity as a competitive runner has switched from the longer distances to the middle distances.

With personal bests of 4:32 (mile) and 15:44 (5k), the best event for Mackay would theoretically be the 3000 meters, a race that perfectly meets in the middle between those two distances.

With a 4:32 mark now on her resume and a lethal amount of momentum now carrying her through the month of January, Mackay has to be the last person that any woman in the NCAA should want to face right now.

As for Allison Johnson, the true freshman from Penn State has been lights-out so far this season, emerging as a borderline elite distance talent despite her inexperience.

After running a monster time of 2:43 for 1000 meters in her season opener, the Nittany Lion rookie toed the line for the mile this past weekend. She followed a blistering pace behind Emily Mackay and ended up earning a personal best of 4:37 in the process.

Right now, we have back-to-back middle distance performances that put Johnson in the national contender conversation. Running 2:43 is legit and a 4:37 mile, depending on the year, can qualify you for the national meet.

It's still unclear whether or not 4:37 will be fast enough to qualify for the indoor national meet this year, but that shouldn't be an issue for someone like Johnson. Right now, she has a ton of momentum and could carry this newfound fitness into other meets where she could produce yet another personal best, potentially in the 4:35 to 4:36 range.

Of course, when you consider the fact that she ran 2:05 for 800 meters and 4:41 in the mile back in high school, Johnson's recent performances become slightly less surprising.

There is a new NCAA leader in the mile this season and it's a name who I did not at all expect to be at the top of the national leaderboard in this event. NAU superstar Nico Young just ran a 4:02 mile in the Flagstaff-based Skydome, a 300 meter indoor track that sits at approximately 6800 feet of altitude.

For perspective, Colorado alum Joe Klecker ran his 4:01 mile (which converted to 3:55) at 5300 feet of elevation back in the winter of 2020.

Nico Young's performance is flat-out incredible. It's an unreal display of fitness and it pairs beautifully with his 5000 meter result of 13:22 from back in December. In fact, I would even go as far to say that this *might* be the most impressive performance of his career, especially since he beat Hoka One One pro and former teammate Luis Grijalva in the process.

Now, with all of that being said, I'm going to say something that may frustrate a few people: This performance didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know about Nico Young and it doesn't really change how I previously thought about him.

When we released our preseason indoor track rankings back in December, Young was placed at TSR #15, a ranking that, at first glimpse, is a little lower than some would expect.

However, our argument was that Nico Young has always thrived in all-out long distance races. He's at his best when the pace is fast and does better in time trial settings rather than tactical or speed-based settings.

In many ways, he hones the same attributes that make Mantz and Kiptoo so great.

Before conversions, Nico Young's best 1500 meter time last spring was 3:44. Then, at the West Regional Championships in the 5000 meters, an awkwardly-paced preliminary heat eventually forced Young to end his spring season early as he failed to advance to the national meet.

In other words, I needed to see this NAU youngster do better in slower, tactical settings and in speed-related scenarios. Based on that, then one could naturally assume that a great mile time would put to rest any uncertainty tat one may have about Young's turnover or middle distance acumen.

However, I think NAU's mile performances from this past weekend are better framed as, "Who can be the strongest and fight the altitude the best?" rather than, "What does your conversion say about your mile speed?"

In other words, this race was all about strength, not speed, the former being something that Young already has plenty of.

Now, to be clear, I think this is an absolutely massive step in the right direction for Nico Young and I love the fact that he still ran a relatively quick mile at altitude while taking down a star talent in the process. If he were to run a mile at sea level, I like to think that he would go under the four minute barrier somewhat comfortably.

Do I think he runs 3:54 at sea level? No, I admittedly don't, but altitude conversions (in my opinion) are often better reflections of someone's overall fitness rather than a perfect match to a certain time at sea level. After all, everyone responds to altitude differently.

I have no idea if any of that made sense, but it does in my head, so I'm going along with it.

As for Osterstock and Bosley, seeing them run conversions of 3:56.16 and 3:58.99 seem to be very on par with our expectations. Their original times prior to conversion were 4:05 and 4:08.

Osterstock isn't new to fast altitude conversions and has often run incredibly well in the thin air. Bosley, meanwhile, is similar to Nico Young in that his stamina-based strength seemingly pulled him to a fast mark.

Much like Young, these are super fast times, but Bosley is better off running the 5000 meters at the national meet. Plus, it was already unlikely that Bosley's current mile time would put him in the national qualifying conversation seeing as how he is already listed at NCAA #19 in the event.

As for Osterstock, he's another name who is better off in the 3000 meter or 5000 meters rather than the mile. The Southern Utah ace doesn't own an unconverted 1500 meter PR faster than 3:45 nor a mile PR faster than 4:02.

That isn't to say that he can't do well in the mile at the national meet, but it's clear that he's more of a strength-based runner who is better suited for the longer distances. After all, his 5000 meter personal best sits at 13:42.

The problem, however, is that Osterstock has yet to run a 3k or a 5k this season and trying to find fast fields for those distances will likely be a challenge the deeper into the season we get.

Luckily for him, the Southern Utah ace is set to compete at the University of Washington over the next couple of weeks. In theory, he may be able to find a fast-enough 3k or 5k field where he can go after a national qualifying time.

The bad news? The current NCAA #16 time in the men's 5000 meters is 13:37, one of the fastest final qualifying times for the 5000 meters ever.

Sintayehu Vissa has been a very solid and a very underrated talent for a while now. She has been a promising contributor during cross country and has often produced some strong times on the oval.

This past fall, Vissa was exceptional, finishing 11th at the Joe Piane Invitational, 19th at Pre-Nationals, 6th at the SEC XC Championships and 33rd at the NCAA XC Championships to earn All-American honors. Prior to that, Vissa was throwing down solid middle distance marks during the spring, posting times of 2:04 (800) and 4:16 (1500).

As strong as those marks and performances were, I don't think anyone was expecting Vissa to run a jaw-dropping mark of 4:32 in the mile this past weekend. Yes, she was already a nationally competitive name as we saw this past fall, but even then it wasn't a given that she would be running as fast she just did.

4:32 puts this Ole Miss superstar in another category and it establishes the idea that she is one of the most versatile talents in the NCAA. She can earn All-American honors on the grass over the course of 6000 meters, but can still run middle distance times of 2:04 and 4:32.

Not only that, but Vissa just took down a field which featured Grace Jensen, an experienced Vanderbilt runner who is already off to a strong start this winter. And of course, Vissa didn't just "take down" the field, she destroyed the field, finishing seven seconds ahead of Jensen.

It feels like this breakout performance holds a bit more validity than all of the other breakout performances that we have seen / will see this winter. Vissa had a solid resume coming into January and had proven herself across a variety of distances, even earning backend All-American honors in cross country.

In other words, the foundation was already there for Vissa to be a star, she just had to deliver on her inner potential -- and deliver she did.

As for Jensen, you have to feel really good about the momentum that she is building right now. After running 2:47 for 1000 meters last weekend, the Vanderbilt middle distance veteran dropped a 4:39 mile PR on Friday.

Jensen looks like she's beginning to start a hot streak. That could make her incredibly dangerous come late February. If she's able to sustain this progression throughout the rest of the season, then we could see her earn a national qualifying time and enter the month of March as a sleeper All-American pick.

Sticking with the meet at Vanderbilt, we were lucky enough to see the Ole Miss show in the mile as three of their distance talents finished under the four minute mile barrier. James Young (via Academy of Art), Shane Bracken (via St. Leo) and Derek Elkins ran 3:57, 3:58 and 3:59, respectively, putting together an overwhelmingly dominant display of distance running firepower.

As exciting as Young's 3:57 win was, it's hard to say that this was a total shock. He was the top miler in D2 last year, even in an era that had some of the fastest milers that the division had ever seen. He also ran 3:37 for 1500 meters, making his 3:57 mile from this past weekend seem plenty realistic.

However, it's Shane Bracken's 3:58 and Dereck Elkins' 3:59 marks that really caught our attention given their past credentials.

Bracken was a proven 1500 meter runner at the D2 level, earning top times and often being a challenger at the national meet. However, he rarely ever raced on the indoor oval and his past results, while strong, didn't necessarily guarantee that he would be running 3:58 in the mile, especially not in his first official race for Ole Miss.

Of course, despite what all of the "signs" suggested, Bracken still came through and delivered on the high expectations that pretty much everyone has placed on this Ole Miss program.

The problem for Bracken is that despite running 3:58.36, he currently sits at NCAA #15 in the mile...and we still have one full weekend of competition to go in the month of January.

This is likely going to be the fastest and deepest year that the men's mile has ever seen in terms of national qualifying. Bracken will likely need to run faster to put himself in that automatic national qualifying conversation. Of course, if he was able to do that in his season debut, then there might be more left in the tank for him.

As for Elkins, I am so incredibly impressed by him. No one was giving this guy any acknowledgment or any recognition coming into this season (TSR included).

The former Texas State runner who, prior to this past cross country season, hadn't competed collegiately since the fall of 2019, didn't have a ton of credentials which suggested that he was going to be a nationally competitive name.

He didn't have a great fall season and his fastest 1500 meter time coming into this winter was 3:56. His fastest 800 meter time was 1:56.

But now Elkins is a sub-four miler, giving the Ole Miss men yet ANOTHER top-tier middle distance talent who the team can rally around, utilize in DMR lineups and enter in a variety of point-scoring scenarios for conference meets.

Of course, now the question is...what's next for Elkins? This performance came out of nowhere for him, so we'll be curious to see what else he does this season in other events.

Also, quick shoutout to Michael Coccia. He ran 4:01 in this race, but he's run 3:59 before, so we know he's capable of going under the four minute mile barrier. I like to think that he's actually better suited for the 3000 meters, but he deserves some recognition for putting together a nice race this weekend.

This now leads us to Christian Noble, the D2 superstar who barely missed the sub-four mile mark last weekend. However, instead of ignoring the event and opting to pursue fast times in the longer distances, Noble chose to give the mile another go.

In the end, Noble finally dipped under the 4:00 barrier, running 3:59.70. The Lee veteran is now tied for the second-fastest mile time in D2 history.

I wish there was more to say here, but I don't think there is. I think many of us knew that Noble was capable of dipping under this barrier, so I'm not sure if this race, as impressive as it was, really comes as a surprise.

Will this result change Noble's postseason plans? It's certainly possible, but in the end, I would think that the mile will play second fiddle to events like the 3000 meters, the 5000 meters and the DMR.

But hey, I've been wrong before.

However, one name who may choose to pursue the mile over the other distance events is Carson Bix, the other Lee star in this race. He ran 4:01 this past weekend, now forcing us to reevaluate what his plans may be on the national stage.

We said that there would be fireworks in Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend and we certainly weren't wrong. At the Hokie Invitational, the NC State women fielded some of their top distance talents in the mile in what was likely an effort to fine-tune their speed and develop some turnover.

Whether or not that was goal is largely negligible. The more important part is the fact that Kelsey Chmiel just threw down a jaw-dropping time of 4:36 in the mile this past weekend, showing us a level of speed that we didn't realize she had.

That is a huge performance and it pairs very nicely with her 5k performance from December when she ran 15:27 at Boston University.

Does Chmiel's 4:36 effort potentially change our thoughts on how she may handle certain tactical settings? Maybe a little bit, but we'll be more interested how she handles the postseason. If you look at her past results, she hasn't always been amazing at ACC meets and has had mixed success at the national meet on the track.

With all of that being said, Chmiel has looked like a completely new runner since the fall and seems almost unstoppable at the moment.

As for teammate Savannah Shaw, her 4:39 mark was a really nice result. She ran 16:06 for 5000 meters back in December, but we know that she's capable of running faster given her 15:40 personal best from last spring.

I have always viewed Shaw as a miler, so I'm happy to see her dip under the 4:40 barrier for the first time in her career. I think if she continues to improve her fitness and build momentum, Shaw could be a fringe national qualifier in the mile.

At the same time, the 3000 meters has the potential be fairly wide-open this year from a qualification standpoint. Maybe Shaw will move up to that distance which seems to be a perfect middle ground between her impressive mile and 5000 meter times.

Her current 3k personal best stands at a respectable mark of 9:16.

One last name I wanted to mention was Virginia freshman Mia Barnett. The true rookie was viewed as a superstar coming into the collegiate ranks and so far, she has delivered on her high expectations. The UVA ace just ran 4:40 in her collegiate debut, just one second shy of her 4:39 mile personal best. Barnett has also run 4:37 for 1600 meters.

If Barnett is able to run this well in her first collegiate race ever, then we'll be excited to see what she can do later in the season as she gets more comfortable with collegiate competition and gets more chances to run fast.

Who knows? Maybe she runs 4:37 by season's end...

On our latest episode of the Blue Oval Podcast, Ben Weisel and myself predicted that it would take a mile time faster than 3:58 to qualify for the indoor national meet this year.

And with one full weekend in the month of January to go, that theory looks like it has some legs to it. That's because, at the moment, Ryan Schoppe's 3:58.71 currently sits at NCAA #16. With well over a month to go in the season, we're leaning towards a possible scenario where 3:57 is what will be required to get into the national meet.

Contributing to that list of sub-four milers is all of the men who we have spoken about today, plus a few others.

Air Force's Sam Gilman ran a 4:06 mile at 7000 feet of elevation to earn a converted time of 3:57. On paper, that conversion seems to align with his incredible 13:25 effort for 5000 meters from back in December.

Gilman has proven to be a very solid and talented miler/1500 meter runner before, but most of his success has been in the longer distances. The 5000 meters will likely be Gilman's top option when it comes to the national meet, but we've seen crazier things happen.

As for Drake's Adam Fogg, he just made a huge statement this past weekend at the Cyclone Open. The Bulldog star took down a few Under Armour pros as well as teammate Isaac Basten en route to a personal best of 3:56.

After an upset loss to Wes Ferguson in the 1000 meters last weekend, Fogg bounced back in a major way with a personal best that further cements his place amongst the national elites. He's proving that last year's success wasn't a fluke and that he still knows how to navigate big-time races.

Talk about clutch.

As for Basten, his 3:59 effort in that race wasn't a personal best (he ran 3:58 back in December), but it's still a solid effort which validates his mile PR from earlier this season. However, just like a few other names, he'll need to improve his mark if he wants to qualify for the national meet, although a potential Drake DMR could be in the cards for him as well.

How about Olin Hacker? The Wisconsin veteran has been a top name in the BIG 10 for a while now, although some seasons of his have been better than others.

But this winter? Well, it looks like he's ready to come out and make a major statement. The Badger star ran 13:37 for 5000 meters back in December and just ran 3:56.66 in the mile this past weekend.

Hacker has been more of a long distance talent throughout his time with Wisconsin, so seeing him drop down to the mile and have such amazing success at that distance is a little bit of a surprise.

Should we be surprised that Hacker ran under the four minute barrier? No, not necessarily. He had run 4:01 before and had floated in the 4:04 to 4:06 range for a bit.

However, seeing him throw down a 3:56 effort seemingly out of nowhere is super impressive and if the result splits are accurate, then Hacker only had a pacer for 600 meters of this race before pulling away from the field and winning by nearly nine seconds.

So what does Hacker pursue in the postseason now? He currently sits at NCAA #16 in the 5000 meters, meaning that he will likely get bumped out of that last automatic qualifying in the event.

He could still make it in with scratches, but would he rather contest the mile where he'll likely have a better seed time? Or will he go for the 5000 meters where he could implement his mile speed in a tactical race to potentially earn All-American honors?

These are questions that we'll ask later in the year, but it's hard not to ponder them now.

Shoutout to Binghamton's Dan Schaffer. He has been, without question, one of the most underrated distance talents in the NCAA. The America East Conference star has been a top name in a variety of distances, but finally got the performance that validated him as a true nationally competitive name.

Schaffer's 3:58 mile performance from this past weekend pairs nicely with his other personal bests of 7:58 (3k) and 13:51 (5k). We'll be curious to see how he performs in other races, specifically in the 3000 meters, as he could stand to lose a few seconds in each distance.

Keep an eye on Schaffer. He'll likely realize that his best avenue to the national meet is going to be in the mile (despite the projected depth). He may continue to grind away at yet another PR that puts him under the 3:58 mark and into automatic national qualifying territory.

Finally, we have Ben Veatch who finally dipped under the four minute barrier with a time of 3:59. This isn't an event that he will seriously pursue in the postseason, but it's hard not to feel good for the Indiana veteran who has a marquee result under his belt.

Veatch now owns personal best times of 3:59 (mile), 7:53 (3k) and 13:33 (5k). We need to start talking about this Hoosier ace as one of the more versatile distance talents in the NCAA. Of course, how he performs on the national stage, assuming he gets there come March, is what's really going to matter at the end of the day.

The Alabama superstar is back in action! Mercy Chelangat toed the line at Samford this past weekend and with the potential help of some teammates (based on their DNF results), Chelangat cruised to a wicked fast time of 15:34 for 5000 meters.

As much as I want to be surprised or say something analytical, I don't think there is really a whole lot to say here. We've seen Chelangat run fast times in the middle of the season before, so it shouldn't come as a shock that she was able to do it again.

I will say that Chelangat running 15:34 is one of the better semi-solo efforts that we have ever seen from her. I don't know if that is really going to make much of a difference come March, but it's clear that Chelangat is once again a national title contender.

The women's 800 meters continues to be one of the quieter distance events in terms of potential qualifying times this year. That, however, has left the door open for other women to potentially sneak into the national meet.

This past weekend, Texas Longhorns Brooke Jaworski and Valery Tobias ran the 800 meters, each posting times of 2:06. With a minor altitude conversion, the Texas duo now boast marks of 2:05.77 and 2:05.78, respectively.

It feels unlikely that times on the slower end of the 2:05 mark would be enough to qualify for the indoor national meet. That said, the 800 meters has been fairly quiet for the women this month, so maybe some of these comparatively slower marks will be able to sneak through.

As for these two Texas women, there is a lot to like about Tobias. She is getting better and better each and every week. If she continues to chip away at her 800 meter PR, then she'll likely be able to solidify her spot to the indoor national meet without much of a concern.

The story for Jaworski, however, is completely different. She had never run faster than 2:09 for 800 meters coming into this weekend. Yes, she had contested numerous middle distance events like the 400 meters and the 600 meters before. Of course, translating all of that experience into an event like the 800 meters and then making a three-second improvement (four-second improvement with altitude) is pretty big.

We're not sure what Jaworski will do the rest of the season or at what rate she will continue to improve, but this is a big-time performance, especially since she secured the win over an accomplished teammate in Tobias.

It was a big weekend if you're a fan of the men's 800 meters as numerous top-level times were recorded around the country.

Let's start with Ole Miss star John Rivera, a veteran middle distance runner and one of the more underrated half-mile talents in the NCAA. This past weekend, Rivera toed the line against teammate Everett Smulders and Adidas-sponsored Atlanta Track Club in the 800 meters. Despite the respectable competition, Rivera still pulled away for a statement victory en route to a huge 1:47.48 personal best.

This is a huge performance for the Ole Miss ace who had never run under 1:48 before this past weekend. Rivera, when healthy, is one of the most consistent 800 meter runners in the country and was even a sleeper All-American pick back in the winter of 2020 before the pandemic cancelled the indoor national meet.

After battling with injuries last year, Rivera looks sharper than ever. He currently shares the NCAA lead with Brandon Miller and now has the next-level mark to put him in the All-American conversation.

Not only that, but a win over a talented field, which includes Everett Smulders who just ran 1:49, has to be a massive momentum boost for Rivera. Don't sleep on the guy who has run under 1:50 a total of 15 times throughout his college career.

As for Smulders, he didn't have his best race after running 1:49, but it was also far from a poor performance. His personal best sits at 1:48 (which he has run on an indoor track before), but I think most people would categorize him as a miler. That's likely the event that he will pursue more seriously once we reach the month of February.

Moving to the Texas men, they had not one, not two, but three men run under 1:49 for 800 meters this past weekend. Cole Lindhorst, Yusuf Bizimana and Crayton Carrozza put on show by running a trio of 1:48's which then earned a small altitude conversion, although those adjustments largely didn't change their times.

Texas is, without question, one of most underrated and most exciting middle distance programs in the nation. Yet, at the same, I'm not sure we really learned anything new about any of these guys this weekend.

Lindhorst actually ran a faster unconverted time in his season opener (1:48.64), Bizimana is an established 800 meter star who has run 1:46 before and Carrozza had a breakout season last spring when he ran 1:47 and 1:46 at the national meet.

If you were to tell me that each of these men would push each other to 1:48 marks coming into this weekend, I would have had zero problem believing that.

That, of course, doesn't make their performances any less impressive. The Longhorns are the real deal and if you enjoyed what you saw out of them this past weekend, then just know that they have more weapons than just those three on their roster.

As for the Iowa State men, I thought we were going to see 1:47 man Jason Gomez in this race, but the Cyclone star seemed to be pacing for his teammates given his DNF result (although that's just speculation).

Instead, teammate Frank Hayes took home the win in the 800 meters via a time of 1:48 while teammates Alex Lomong and Darius Kipyego each recorded times of 1:49. Missouri's Chris Conrad, who I initially believed would contend for the win, placed 4th in a time of 1:50.

When it comes to this Iowa State trio, it's hard to be surprised. All of these men have personal bests that are faster than what they ran this past weekend and they have run in the 1:48 to 1:49 range numerous times before.

I will say that I was bit surprised to see Conrad drop to 4th place and not break 1:50. This guy is plenty talented and has proven that he can be competitive in top fields such as this.

At the same time, it's important not to overanalyze results in January. It's still early and although I would have liked to see him do more this weekend, it's not something that I will let dictate his season from an analysis point of view.

Here are a few other notable 800 meter times from this past weekend...

- Antonio Abrego (Iowa) runs 1:48.88

- Jacob Rodin (North Dakota State) runs 1:49.00

- Tyler Olson (Iowa) runs 1:49.60

- Matthew Payamps (Georgetown) runs 1:49.90

- Alec Still (Iowa) runs 1:49.95

Watch out for Abrego. He's only a freshman and was a super accomplished name in high school. The Iowa Hawkeyes don't get enough credit for the 800 meter standouts that they seem to constantly develop each and every year. They've had some standout talents and it looks like Abrego, Olson and Still can be those standouts in 2022.

The men's 3000 meters didn't have the same crazy depth that a few other events like the 800 meters or the mile had, but we did get to see some incredible marks that will certainly stir up conversation.

We need to first talk about Montana State's Duncan Hamilton. After running an altitude and flat-track converted time of 3:56 in the mile last weekend, the Bobcat star essentially did the same thing in the 3000 meters, this time running a converted mark of 7:48 stemming from an original time of 8:05.

Between Nico Young and Duncan Hamilton, this weekend gave the altitude conversion critics a ton of ammo for their arguments.

Yes, I'll admit, I think a 7:48 mark for 3000 meters may be a little generous for Hamilton. Yet, at the same time, I don't think the conversion is completely inaccurate or misleading. This is someone who thrives specifically in the 3000 meters (he's an amazing steeplechaser) and has proven to be a top talent in other distances before.

Would I predict Hamilton to run 7:48 for 3000 meters at sea level? Maybe not, but would I predict 7:50? Yes, I definitely would. And even then I don't think it's entirely unrealistic to suggest that Hamilton could run 7:48.

The obvious ask for Hamilton is to have him go to sea level and run something that is roughly in the same ball park as what his conversions are saying. When you consider that almost every Montana State star before him has done exactly that, then I like Hamilton's chances of delivering on expectations.

As for Athanas Kioko's time of 7:49, I don't know if there is a ton to say here. We knew Kioko was a true star and over the last two seasons of competition (outdoor track and cross country) he has developed an incredible understanding of tactics and how to respond to certain moves.

After running 13:13 for 5000 meters last spring, it should come as no surprise that Kioko was talented enough to essentially solo a top-tier mark such as this. He has proven on numerous occasions that he can push the pace and run by himself. Based on the results from this past weekend, it seems like that was exactly what happened.

Let's wrap up by shouting out Nick Dahl (Duke) and Seth Hirsch (Wisconsin). They each ran 7:59 for 3000 meters this past weekend at different meets. These two NCAA veterans have been excellent in the second-half of their collegiate careers, so it's not too surprising that they are continuing to find success this winter.

Also, great run for Georgetown's Camden Gilmore. After running 2:23 for 1000 meters, he bounced back this weekend to run 8:00 for 3000 meters. That is some sneaky-good range.

The 1000 meter races that we have seen this season have been absurdly fast on both the men's and women's sides.

TFRRS doesn't keep a running list of top times for 1000 meters marks, so it's possible that there may have been a few key results from this past weekend that are not mentioned in the below list. Even so, here's a quick glance at some of the top 1k results from Friday and Saturday...